OUR COMPANY EXISTS TO RESTORE DEGRADED TROPICAL FOREST AND WETLAND ECOSYSTEMS
OUR COMPANY
Forest Carbon restores degraded wetland forests. Our company is a premium restoration project developer in Southeast Asia that delivers benefits for local communities, biodiversity and investors through a proven business model. With offices in Jakarta and Singapore, Forest Carbon’s team brings is built on a track record of success in the region. The team brings a decade of experience working on the ground, from mapping wetlands and assessing below-ground carbon storage, to hiring local workers and obtaining community support.
Forest Carbon relies on this technical expertise and a growing pipeline of project opportunities to secure millions in private sector investment for threatened ecosystems. Forest Carbon’s Sumatra Merang Peatland Project is now a proven business model for large-scale restoration, with more than 5 million Euro in investment capital raised. Sales secured from major global brands support restoration efforts on more than 22,000 hectares, which reduces the risk of fire, strengthens the rural economy and creates jobs, and delivers returns for investors and partners.
This type of environmental and social performance is integrated into every level of Forest Carbon’s operations and management systems. Forest Carbon is scaling this successful approach by investing in technology with the potential to transform the way restoration is delivered at scale. IoT Sensors and other monitoring tools enable rapid development of new restoration projects that protect threatened ecosystems, an effort which must increase substantially to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.
OUR TEAM
JEFFREY CHATELLIER
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
With a combined background in economics and environmental science, Jeff has led the project feasibility, design and investment process for multiple ecosystem services projects in Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia. Jeff is the Project Technical Director for Forest Carbon’s 23,000-hectare Sumatra Merang Peatland project and oversees all aspects of the investment from Althelia Climate Fund. Jeff holds a BA in International Affairs from the George Washington University and a Master of Environmental Science (MESc) from the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. Jeff has published a book on mangrove ecosystems in West Africa, is a registered practitioner of the High Carbon Stock (HCS) Approach and is a former Fulbright Scholar in Indonesia.
DEVAN WARDWELL
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Devan raises capital to launch the company’s new forest restoration projects. Devan has designed and evaluated business models for multiple companies and clients across Southeast Asia, including community forests, stranded assets, national parks and privately-financed carbon offset projects. In addition to overseeing the growth strategy for the company, Devan leads communications, sales and business development, drawing on a decade of relationship building stakeholder management. With an early career for the humanitarian NGO Mercy Corps, Devan has seen climate risk emerge firsthand while working on community mitigation programming in northern Mali and Niger. Devan has also managed humanitarian response communications in post-earthquake Haiti and served as a Small Enterprise Development volunteer while in the Peace Corps in Guinea, West Africa.
OPHELIA WANG
DEPUTY TECHNICAL PROJECT LEAD
Ophelia has 17 years of experience in geospatial work of biodiversity, conservation prioritization, spatial planning, forest monitoring, land use mapping analysis, spatial modeling of habitat suitability and connectivity, sampling design, information system management, and capacity building. Her work has had over 1,600 citations to peer-reviewed publications including the Science for the extensive collaborations in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and United States. Ophelia leads technical data evaluation, collection, analysis and documentation for project development, design, planning and coordination for the Sumatra Merang Peatland Project. Ophelia holds a PhD in Environment and Geography from the University of Texas, a Dual Masters in Ecology and Latin American Studies from the University of Illinois and an Undergraduate Degree in Botany from the National University of Taiwan.
PRASETYA MAHARDHITAMA
REMOTE SENSING TEAM LEAD
As the GIS/Remote Sensing Team Leader for Forest Carbon, Prasetya manages the day-to-day operations of a growing remote sensing team to produce spatial and land cover analysis for the design and assessment of tropical forest restoration projects. Prasetya has over a decade of experience in information technology and forest landscape analysis using high resolution satellite imagery and LiDAR. Prasetya also leads Forest Carbon's deployment of technologies for tropical forest monitoring, such as Unmanned Aerial Systems, IoT sensors and mobile GIS applications to provide better data and high resolution imagery to project management teams in the field.
MARY OSMOND
DIRECTOR OF LEGAL AFFAIRS AND COMPLIANCE
Mary holds a law degree from Atmajaya University, an LLM from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and is a member of the Indonesian Bar Association (PERADI). She is an expert on conservation law in Indonesia and acts as the primary compliance officer for the Sumatra Merang Peatland Project. Mary brings diverse experience to the team and has drafted on regulatory frameworks for the Indonesian executive branch and worked with investors and local businesses as the head legal adviser for the Indonesian Netherlands Association. Mary has also advised on land tenure and licensing strategy for multiple organizations, including FFI, Winrock and the IFC.
JOSH VAN VIANEN
TECHNICAL UNIT MANAGER
Josh draws on a diverse background, with over 13 years of experience researching ecosystems and managing large-scale initiatives across – both across the tropics and in his native country of New Zealand. An ecologist by training, Josh has conducted extensive research on a diverse range of topics related to conservation, forestry, integrated landscape management and ecosystem services. Josh also developed a deep understanding of the social and environmental issues surrounding forests and degradation across the tropics while at the Center for International Forest Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia, which led him to his current role leading project feasibility assessments as Technical Unit Manager for Forest Carbon.
SEBASTIAN PERSCH
EMISSIONS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LEAD
Sebastian is an ecologist specializing in tropical peatland, and has worked in the forestry, conservation and climate change space since 2011. Sebastian is experienced in advanced data analysis and statistical programming with open source software and has led research on forests and peatland ecosystems in Indonesia, Malaysia and Lao PDR on carbon dynamics. Sebastian holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Tropical Forestry Ecology, from the University of Göttingen in Germany and is completing a Ph.D. with post-doctoral research at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). With Forest Carbon Sebastian focuses on bringing technological efficiency to the process of data collection, VCS project design and emissions reduction modeling for peatland and tropical forest restoration projects. Sebastian also supports ongoing project development work for the Sumatra Merang Peatland Project (SMPP) through project verification, emissions monitoring and I0T sensor deployment.
RIZALDY YUDHISTA
SPECIALIST, GIS & REMOTE SENSING
Rizaldy is a GIS and Remote sensing specialist specializing in forest landscape analysis using spatial data and high resolution imagery. Rizaldi leads field operations and logistics for surveys and data gathering for peatland restoration activities. He also leverages his technology experience to ensure strong communications and high quality data from the field are delivered consistently to the Forest Carbon headquarters.
MUHAMMAD JUAN ARDHA
GIS & RS Associate
Muhammad Juan Ardha graduated from Institut Pertanian Bogor, and has ben working in GIS & Remote Sensing for HCV and HCS assessment projects for RSPO and FSC certification scheme since 2013. He has also worked on risk analysis for Trans-Papua road initiated by the regional government. Juan has developed many relevant skills though his work as a Land Use Change Analysis assessor and reviewer for RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil) under the RaCP (Remediation and Compensation Procedure) scheme.
ANGGA G. PRATAMA
SENIOR ASSOCIATE, CLIMATE & FORESTRY
Angga has strong interest in renewable energy and has experiences in managing multiple IT projects. Prior to joining Forest Carbon, Angga maintained a portal website related to climate change mitigation via forest carbon sequestration and storage across the Asia region.
ZATIA NURFINA
ASSOCIATE DATA ANALYST
Zatia is an associate data analyst at Forest Carbon, where she turn project data into actionable insights for senior management. Zatia is responsible for environmental data collection from company projects, to produce high quality excel data analysis and reports for the team. She also monitors activity and long term trends in the voluntary carbon market, particularly for the VCS standard. Zatia holds a bachelors degree in Environmental Engineering from University of Indonesia, with a focus on forest regeneration. Prior experience include community development in West Java, along with circular economy projects focused on waste and sanitation for the Ujung Kulon post-tsunami revitalization project in Banten.
MISNAWATI
FINANCE MANAGER
Misnawati oversees accounting and finance as part of the the Forest Carbon team. Misna brings more than 13 years of experience in Finance, Accounting, Tax and Administration areas. Throughout her career, she has worked in a number of global companies in wide-ranging fields including Construction, Manufacturing, Logistic and Government Institution. Her key responsibility is to lead Project Financial Reporting in an efficient and timely manner.
ADVISORS
TOM HOUSTON
BOARD CHAIR
Tom is a well-known international, corporate and environmental lawyer who has also served as Founder & CEO of several international non-profit organizations and green technology companies. He is experienced in the management of investor pools and in the formation and funding of special purpose funds. In addition, as a former government official, lobbyist and attorney, Tom has written many laws and regulations as well as regulatory protocols for trade organizations and associations. In 2008, he served as the Managing Partner of Global Eco Rescue Ltd. A developer of REDD projects in Indonesia and other countries with offices in Jakarta, Geneva and London.
COLIN MOORE
CHIEF TECHNICAL ADVISER
An alumnus of Forest Carbon, Colin is a Business and Conservation Adviser for Wildlife Conservation Service in Laos. Colin is a seasoned technical and policy expert in the design, implementation and monitoring of projects and programs in the forestry, conservation, restoration, and sustainable agriculture spaces. Colin wide range of skills include the identification of drivers of land-use change, design of mitigation actions, and accounting of GHG emissions. His professional experience spans Central America, Africa and Southeast Asia, where he has supported governments, private sector companies and public sector organizations through collaborative engagement to deliver positive climate, biodiversity and social benefits at scale.
PERRY NAGLE
SENIOR ADVISER
Perry specializes in project management, finance, and general management and capacity building. He first came to Indonesia in 1993 and has over 25 years’ experience as a corporate lawyer in private practice and as general counsel of multinational corporations. Perry currently advises government and private sector leaders on a wide range of issues including stakeholder engagement, strategy and capacity building, government relations and crisis management. He has advised on the establishment of numerous foreign direct investment projects and acted as a consultant on projects involving the Indonesian government and international agencies such as the IFC and USAID. Perry speaks fluent Indonesian and is a graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle and Cornell Law School. He began his career with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in New York City, where he specialized in corporate finance.
CHRISTIAN DONN
Senior Sustainability and Communications Strategist
Chris is leading resource development and external communication initiatives with investors and donors at Forest Carbon. He has over 20 years of experience in strategic communications with IFES, the World Bank, the United Nations and Universal, among others. Chris specializes in engagement and stakeholder management, experience gained while working for international organizations, corporate and government clients in more than 25 countries across Asia, the Americas and Europe. Prior to joining Forest Carbon, Chris was based in Jakarta from where he managed a large-scale public policy advocacy program across eight countries in Southeast Asia for five years. Chris holds an MBA from ESCP Business School in Paris along with Certificates in Sustainable Business Strategy from Harvard, Stanford, and Imperial College.